


On Stage, We Are Merely But Players

by Cosmicphandom2k16



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 21:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4453427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmicphandom2k16/pseuds/Cosmicphandom2k16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily Potter and Harry Potter are putting on a production of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' (Act 1 scene ii)</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Stage, We Are Merely But Players

A/N: Written for QLFC. Captain of the Wimbourne Wasps.

**Round 9 - Shakespeare**

It's simple, he's a literary genius, and it's time to remember his work. Each position will be given a play of his to base your story off. You don't have to follow the exact plot, just picking up on a staple of it or a key event would be enough. As long as you mould and modernise these plays into the Potterverse, you're good to go.

Captains prompt: The Tempest.

* * *

They were having one last dress rehearsal before the big opening night. Harry, Lily, James, and Sirius were all putting on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' under the direction of the most famous director, Minerva McGonagall.

Harry was to play 'Prospero'. Lily, Prospero's daughter 'Miranda'. 'Ariel' was to be played by Sirius.

"God, I'm so bloody nervous," complained Harry.  
"You'll be fine sweetheart, just keep looking at me, and don't forget to project your voice a bit more," soothed Lily Potter, smiling at her son.  
"All ready?" asked James, as he appeared at his wife's elbow.

They both nodded, and James led them offstage to stand in the wings ready for their scene. Finally the moment was upon them.

"Good luck, both of you," whispered James. He hugged his son and kissed his wife.

The narrator opened Act one, scene two.

"Two figures stood on the cliff top, watching the ship being torn apart in the storm and disappearing beneath the angry sea. The strange thing was that, although the elements raged and the waves churned, the lightning flashed and the thunder roared, the weather on the island was still and calm. It was hot: the sun beat down and the sky was cloudless. The man wore a long cloak and held a staff: the girl, red haired and pretty, was dressed in a white gown. He stood, unmoving, his face expressionless. She covered her face with her hands and peeped through her fingers. When she saw that the ship had sunk she turned to him."

**Lily:** "'Dearest father,' she said. 'If you've used your magic to stir the sea into this wild roaring, calm it now. The sky seems as though it's going to drop stinking pitch except that the sea is rising up to its cheek and quenching its fire. Oh, I suffered with those suffering on board! A sound ship that probably had some noble person on it, smashed. Oh, their cries wrenched my heart! Poor souls, they died. If I had any power I would drain the sea before I let it swallow up that ship and all the suffering souls on board."

**Harry:** **[Place a hand gently on her shoulder.]** "Cheer up. Don't be afraid. Let your compassionate heart be assured that no harm's been done to anyone."

**Lily:** "'Oh it's terrible."

**Harry:** "'No harm. Everything I've done is for your sake. For your sake, my dear one: my beloved daughter, who knows nothing of her origins: of where I came from, nor than that I am anything more than Prospero, occupant of a very poor cave, and your humble father."

**Lily:** **[Give a look of astonishment.]**

**Harry:** "It's never crossed my mind that there was anything more to it. The time has come to tell you."

The narrator spoke his next passage.

"He faced the storm. He raised his staff and stretched both his arms out. The thunder faded, the wind subsided, the clouds dissolved and the waves flattened out. Within moments they were looking at a calm blue sea beneath the same bright sun that shone on them. Then he turned and started walking. She followed him to the cave, set in a rocky hill, where they lived."

The scene shifters changed the scene.

**Harry:** "Help me take my cloak off."

**[You help him. When the heavy cloak has been removed you fold it and lay it down gently on the table.]**

**Harry:** "Lie there, my magic."

**[You kissed her, then lead her to a chair and indicated to her to sit down. You pull up the other chair and face her.]**

**Harry:** "Don't be concerned. Wipe your eyes. I've used my magic to control the shipwreck that so distressed you, so that not one soul – no, not even a single hair on anyone's head – has come to any harm, even though you heard their cries and saw the ship sink." **[You take her hand and looked intently at her, encouraging her to smile, which she does, nervously.]** "There are things you should know."

**Lily:** "You've often started to tell me something but then stopped yourself and left me with unanswered questions, saying only, wait, not yet.''

**Harry:** "The time has come. It's important, so listen carefully. Can you remember anything about the time before we came here? I don't think so because you weren't even three years old."

**Lily:** "Oh, I can."

**Harry:** "What? Another house or person? Tell me what you remember."

**Lily:** "It's very distant, and more like a dream than anything that I can be sure about. Didn't I once have three or four women looking after me?"

James stood in the wings and marveled at his wife and son. So far they'd both given their all, emotionally and physically in acting out their scene. He felt love for them both flood through his entire body.

**Harry:** **[You nod slowly.]** "You did, and even more than that, Miranda. But why did this particular thing stay in your memory? What other memories are there in the dark recesses of your mind? If you remember anything of that then you may remember how you got here."

**Lily:** "But I don't."

**Harry:** **[You nod again.]** "Twelve years ago, Miranda, twelve years ago, your father was the Duke of Milan, a powerful man."

**Lily:** **[You spring up.]** "Aren't you my father?"

**Harry:** **[You laugh.]** "Your mother was the picture of virtue and she assured me you were my daughter."

**Lily:** **[You sit down.]**

**Harry:** "And your father was the Duke of Milan, and you, no less noble, a princess, and his only heir."

**Lily:** "Oh heavens!" **[Look surprised.]** "What foul play was there, that drove us away?" **[Pause.]** "Or was it a good thing?"

**Harry:** **[You chuckle at her confusion.]** "Both, both, my girl: we were thrown out by foul play, as you put it, but good fortune helped us to get here."

**Lily:** "Oh, my heart goes out to you when I think about the sorrow I'm reminding you of, which I can't remember. Please tell me more."

**Harry:** 'My brother, your uncle, Antonio – please pay attention. That a brother could be so treacherous! He whom, apart from you, I loved most in the world! I delegated the running of the state to him. It was the foremost of all the Italian states and Prospero was a leading duke, highly respected and renowned as a scholar. Because I was absorbed in my learning I loaded him with the work of governing and, being preoccupied with my studies, became remote from the affairs of state. Your deceitful uncle… Are you listening?'

Sirius approached James in the wings.

"How they doing this time?"  
"Amazingly, mate, absolutely bloody brilliantly! Watch."

Sirius stood quietly next to James and watched the scene unfold.

**Lily:** "Most attentively."

**Harry:** "Once he had perfected the art of government – how to say yes and no to requests: who to promote and who to dispose of for being over-ambitious – he either won over or dismissed all my people until he had the keys both of power and the dukedom, which he used to have all the officers of state playing his tune. He became a parasite, the overgrown ivy that both covered the princely tree and sucked the life out of it. Are you still listening?"

**Lily:** **[Look of alertness.]** "Oh, sir, of course!"

**Harry:** "You must listen. And so, in my seclusion and the improvement of my mind, neglect of those worldly things awakened an evil nature in my disloyal brother. His deceitfulness was as great as my unlimited trust in him. My trust in him was boundless. He rose to a great height and became very rich, not only from my legitimate income but also from corruption. He was like an habitual liar who begins to believe his own lies. He began to believe that he was, indeed, the duke, because, standing in for me and carrying out my duties, he had all the privileges and power of a prince. And so, as his ambition grew.. are you listening?"

**Lily:** "This story would cure deafness."

**Harry:** "And, like an actor not recognising the difference between the part he plays and the character he's playing, he had to be the actual Duke of Milan. As I was a humble man my library was a dukedom large enough for me and he now thought that I was incapable of handling administrative matters. He was so thirsty for influence with the King of Naples that he made an alliance with him, agreeing to pay him an annual levy, recognise his superiority and make himself the king's subject. It was a humiliating situation for Milan, to become subservient to another state for the first time."

**Lily:** "Oh heavens!" **[You say in surprise.]**

"Mate, I see what you mean," said Sirius after a little while of watching. "That is so much better. Have you seen the look on old McGonagall's face?"

James, peered further forward to the front row of seats. Minerva McGonagall looked totally enraptured. James nodded happily and continued to watch. Sirius moved off as he had to be under the stage to make his grand entrance soon as the spirit 'Ariel'.

**Harry:** "Listen to the terms of the treaty, then tell me if this could be a brother."

**Lily:** "It would be wrong of me to think badly of my grandmother. Good women have had bad sons.'

**Harry:** "Now the treaty. This King of Naples was my long time enemy. He listens to my brother's request, which was that the king would immediately expel you and me from the dukedom and make him the duke officially, in return for his loyalty. So they recruited a treacherous band. One midnight, Antonio opened the gates of Milan and they hurried us through them in the dead of night. You were crying."

**Lily:** "Oh, how sad!" **[You take his hand.]** "I don't remember crying then but I'll cry now. I feel so sad.

**Harry:** **[You stroke her hair.]** "There's a little more, and then I'll tell you what's going on now, because it's connected."

**Lily:** "Why didn't they kill us?"

**Harry:** "Good question. My story begs that question. Darling, they didn't dare because my people loved me too much. They didn't want to complicate it with violence but rather to make it seem better than it was. To cut a long story short, they hustled us on to a ship and took us several miles out to sea. And then they prepared a rotting, useless tub without rigging or tackle: no sails, no mast – even the rats had instinctively deserted it – and put us on board, to be at the mercy of the roaring sea, leaving us to mix our sighs with the howling wind."

**Lily:** "Oh, what a worry I must have been to you!"

**Harry:** "Oh you were an angel and it was you who saved me. You smiled through it, seemingly inspired by heaven, whereas I was feeling sorry for myself and crying profuse tears into the sea. Your smiles gave me the courage to endure whatever was to come."

**Lily:** "How did we come ashore?"

**Harry:** "By divine Providence. There was a good man in charge, a noble Neopolitan called Gonzalo, who felt sorry for us and gave us food and fresh water, and also expensive clothes, linen, and the other necessities that have been so useful to us. Out if [of] decency, he gave me the books from my library that I loved more than my dukedom because he knew how much I valued them."

**Lily:** "I wish I could meet that man!"

**Harry:** **[You stand up.]** I must go. 'But don't get up. Stay there. Let me tell you the rest. We arrived on this island, and I've been your teacher here and given you a better education than other princesses have who have more time for silly things, with tutors who don't care as much as I do."

**Lily:** "Heaven thank you for it. Now please tell me, sir, why did you bring this storm on, because it's still upsetting me?"

**Harry:** "I can tell you this for the time being. By a strange co-incidence, Fortune, favouring me now, has brought my enemies to this shore. I can tell the future and I can see that I have a guiding star leading me: if I don't take advantage of its signals I won't have another opportunity. No more questions now.' **[You raise your hand and move it slowly from side to side in front of her.]  
**  
 **Lily:** **[Your eyes follow its movement.]  
**  
 **Harry:** "You're sleepy, **[speak softly.]** It feels nice. Let yourself go. You're in my power."

**Lily:** **[Your eyelids flicker. Your head drops on to your chest and you fall asleep.]**

Narrator speaks.

"Prospero went to the entrance of his cave and stood with his arms outstretched."

**Harry:** "Come here, servant, come. 'I'm ready. Come to me my Ariel, come."

Narrator.

"A breeze rustled the leaves around the cave's entrance and a patch of air thickened and began to shape itself into a small human form. It became clearer and materialised as a solid figure that looked like a beautiful child. He stood before Prospero and bowed."

**[Enter Ariel.]**

**[Sirius materializes from under the stage to appear before Harry and a sleeping Lily.]**

**Sirius:** "All hail, great master, reverend sir,' he said. 'I'm here, to do whatever you ask me. Whether you tell us to fly, to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride on the woolly clouds, Ariel and all the other spirits will do it."

Once Sirius materialized, he broke down in a fit of laughter.

"Cut, cut!" yelled McGonagall in complete fury. "Black, if you do not curb this laughter, I will bring your understudy in, instead."

Lily's eyes snapped open and she was off her chair in a microsecond and stood before Sirius, her hands on her hips.

"Sirius! You complete dick! Why must you spoil everything? We were doing so well this time too."

To convey her feelings, she took another step towards Sirius, smacked him hard across the face, and stalked off the stage.

"Way to blow it Sirius," muttered Harry crossly.

Sirius had the grace to look ashamed.

McGonagall called for a break. She knew better than to try and get Lily back on stage in the mood she was in. She would need time to work it off.

**O.o.O**

In the end, the night was a complete success. Lily cooled off enough to carry on. Sirius finally got over his giggles, though his eyes were full of mirth that was nearly Harry's undoing. Every night for the full week the show ran, it was a packed house. The press loved it, the audience thought it splendid, and McGonagall retired in a blaze of glory.


End file.
